Day 289/18. College Mede Lock - Itchen Navigation

This small waterfall is where the upper gates of the College Mede Lock once stood on the long abandoned Itchen Navigation canal.
This provided an important trading route from Winchester to the sea at Southampton for about 150 years. Improvements to the River Itchen were authorised by Act of Parliament in 1665, but progress was slow, and the navigation was not declared complete and opened until 1710.
Following the opening of the London and Southampton Railway in 1840, traffic declined sharply, and the navigation ceased to operate in 1869. There were various attempts to revitalise it, but none were successful.